


Branches and Leaves, Horns and Tails

by Combat_boots



Category: Hellboy (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-07-12 05:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15988676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Combat_boots/pseuds/Combat_boots
Summary: Mary Eve Forrester was abandoned as a baby, and taken in by a professor when he found her in the jungles of South America. There's just two twists. He took her to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, and she is distinctly not human.





	1. Chapter 1

South American rain forest, 1940.

The expedition wasn't going well. Professor Bruttenholm hadn't found any artifacts, or even simple evidence of a supposed species that lived in the huge trees. The natives had spoken of them in hushed whispers, sometimes in fear, sometimes in respect. The few soldiers that the professor had brought with him to South America were beginning to lose patience, not only with the lack of discovery, but also with the oppresive hot humidity, the regular savage wildlife, and, of course, the mosquitoes. 

Bruttenholm was certain of the people's existence, and was not giving up. The legends spoke both of their benevolence and their cruelty, and the professor suspected that they were simply people, with the different personalities to match. He wanted to make contact, as he looked for the evil occult every day, and he longed for something friendly.

Suddenly, the sentry of the camp heard a cry. He held up a torch that one of the natives had provided them with, and scanned the undergrowth for the source of the noise. "Professor! You may want to check this out!" He called behind his shoulder. Professor Trevor followed the solder into the forest, every now and again hearing the sound. About five miniutes later, they found it. 

It was a covered basket. The clamor seemed almost like that of a baby's. The scout held back, allowing Bruttenholm to cautiously step forward, and take off the woven cover. It was a baby after all, but that was where the expectations ended. For instance, they were covered in green fur, and had a tail that occasionally twitched. They had black fuz on the top of their head, and ever so slightly pointed ears. Other than that, the baby was normal. Trevor cautiously picked her up, for it was a her after all. "Why, it's just a baby! From her looks, I'd say she's one of the people we have been looking for." He exclaimed, wrapping the girl up in his coat and soothing her. 

The soldier frowned. "If she's one of them, why was she left all the way out here with nobody to watch her?" He asked. The professor turned back to the basket. "I've seen some of these symbols before. The tend to mean something along the lines of unworthy or unwanted. And occasionally, it is used to say banished." He replied, shifting the girl to a more secure hold as she fell asleep, her tail wrapping around his arm. "So, you're saying they just left a baby out here to die?" The sentry demanded. Bruttenholm slowely nodded. "They live a harsh life out here. It's possible that her mother died giving birth to her, and there was nobody to take care of her, so they just decided to get rid of her." He answered. 

The soldier sighed. "So what do we do, sir? We can't just leave her here." He inquired.  The professor laid a hand on the baby's furry back. "I'll take her in. And I think I know the perfect name for her."

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence, 1991

The alarm clock blared, showing 9:30 in the morning. A green, furred tail slapped it, knocking it onto the ground, which it hit in a way that turned it off. The girl groaned. She lifted her head off the hammock and snagged her horns in one of the ropes holding it up. She sighed in annoyance. Her door opened. "Good morning, Mary." The blue-skinned creature said in greeting. "Hi, Abe." She replied sleepily. "Are you having difficulties?" Abe asked calmly. "Nah, I'm good. Just needed to wake up a bit more." She answered, reaching up to unhook the rope from the ridged black ivory. "Alright then. Shall I inform the professor that you have woken up?" Abe inquired with a tilt of his finned head. Mary sat up and frowned, having untangled herself. "Why? You don't normally do that. Is something happening today?" She swung down to a lower shelf, though she was still several feet off the ground. 

Abe shifted his stance. "No, nothing unusual is happening today, but Hellboy was hoping to compete with you later at the range." "Oh?" Mary inquired, pulling on something to cover most of her skin, even though she didn't like how it ruffled her fur, and shorts that left a hole for her tail, "compete about what? If it's gymnastics, there is absolutely no way he's winning, not with that huge stone hand of his. It's awful for his balance." She remarked as she looped ribbon around her black horns. Abe tilted his head the other way. "No, I believe it was to be a contest of aim, in fact." He said slowly. 

"Ha! He knows I've been practicing with my knives as long as he's been around, and that gun of his is too defective to shoot straight!" She retorted as she looped hair, ribbons, and charms around her horns. Mary, unlike Hellboy, didn't keep her horns filed down, rather using them as part of her everyday style. In one final flip, she landed on the ground in front of Abe. 

"Shall we? I want to see how long he'll last before I beat him again." She remarked as she walked past her friend out the door. 

Mary bounced up to a metal door, and knocked. "Hey red! Can I see the fur babies and get a snack?" She inquired brightly. The door slid open. "Mary Eve Forrester, they are called cats, and this is my food." Hellboy said grumpily from inside. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, one, you can't scare me with my full name, and two, can I come in?" She asked. The red demon grunted assent through a mouthful of food.

Mary smiled and bounced in. Three different cats immediately walked over and brushed against her legs, while another that had been on a shelf lept onto her shoulder. She laughed, and picked up the cat that landed on her shifting him to a more comfortable position. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" She asked. "Did you fall off your hammock and hit your head?" He retorted.

Mary gave a short burst of laughter. "I guess you did. And I am way too good to hit my head on the way down, even if I fell. I'm like a cat." She said, setting the cat down so she could hold up her hands in a parody of their claws. "Rawr." She mimiked jokingly. Hellboy shook his head. "It doesn't matter what you do, you still aren't getting any of my food. You can go to the mess hall like everybody else." He said that last bit with a tone of resentment. Mary's smile fell a small amount, and she walked over to her friend. "Hey. I'm sure the professor will let you out of being grounded soon. He's just worried. You scared him with that last stunt." She said, laying a hand on his arm. 

Hellboy sighed. "I just wanted to see Liz. Is that so bad? She could come back, she'd be welcome, she'd be safe." He complained. A pang shot through the green furred girl. She was friends with the fire starter, sure, but she was always jealous of the fact that she held the demons affections. She loved Hellboy. Had for many decades. They grew up together, and then this woman just waltzes in and takes him away--. No. She needed to focus. "She'll be alright where she is now. Remember, going to the asylum was her choice." She said comfortingly. "She's also done this 12 other times. She might come back on her own this time." 

Mary decided to change the subject. "So, I heard we were getting a new handler today. Guess Clay got tired of our crazyness." She said. Hellboy shook his head. "Yeah, I met the kid. He came in with Clay to bring me the food. Seemed scared of me. Little bright eyed boy by the name of John Myers." He replied. Mary tilted her head. "Doesn't sound all that bad. He might be able to keep up with us better. And we can convince him to do way more things that Clay would never let us do. And if all else fails, we can throw him at the monster and say he did something stupid." She said. Hellboy glared at her. "That would be murder and a sin. Which is blasphemy, especially because I can see your rosary on you." He pointed at the beaded string wrapped around her belt. Mary sighed. "It was a joke. I have no actual intention of hurting him. Creeping him out, maybe a little, but actually harming him? No." She shook her head for emphasis.

The metal door slid open again as alarms blared and red lights flashed. A young man stood outside it, wearing a shiny new badge and a nervous expression. "Hey, hey, hey, they're playing our song." Hellboy said.


	2. Chapter 2

Mary didn't like the garbage truck. Neither did Hellboy. But hey, at least there weren't any angry mobs with torches and pitchforks this way. 

"Hey, Abe? What precisely happened? I couldn't hear." She asked the blue figure. Hellboy laughed. "Really? You can hear me say a joke three steel rooms away, but you can't hear the mission instructions?" He retorted. 

Mary glared at him. "You are very loud when you're telling jokes. And you had been heckling Myres while they were giving us the instructions right next to me, so I couldn't hear because of that." She replied, crossing her arms. 

Abe turned around. "Regardless, I am sure that neither of you know what it is we are doing, because if Hellboy was talking so that Mary could not hear, then he could not hear and likely was not paying attention." He corrected, linking his long webbed fingers together. Mary shot Hellboy the classic 'I told you so' look, while he just crossed his arms and looked sullen.

"In any case," Abe continued, "there was a break in at this museum, and multiple night guards were killed, and a dangerous creature is still there. Our job is to neutralise it, discover what happened, and why." He finished. 

Just then, the truck lurched to a stop. Mary grabbed her large knife and stepped out as soon as the door opened. The boys were right behind her, and both Manning and the professor were standing on the loading dock with a few other agents.

"What've we got?" Mary asked. 

"Well, something ripped up the night guards, but we can't tell what it was or if it's still in there." Clay said. Abe brought in a tray full of books and began flipping through them. "I'm goin' in." Hellboy said. 

"Alright, make room then." Mary said. He glared at her. "Alone." He amended. 

Mary glared harder. "Like hell." She retorted, and when he opened the door, she slipped in with him. 


	3. Chapter 3

Hellboy pulled out his revolver as soon as the door closed behind them, and Mary pulled out her short sword. Hellboy glared at her as she stealthily climbed up a nearby pillar. Mary glared back, and pointed towards the rest of the room with her tail. 

Hellboy rolled his eyes and continued on. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." He muttered. A body fell from the rafters. It was a security guard.

Hellboy found Mary on a balcony and glared at her. She shook her head and pointed with her sword. Hellboy looked back down. A dog-like monster crawled out from behind a pillar. "Hey little guy. What're you doing here?" Hellboy said. 

The monster snarled and lunged at Hellboy. He punched the monster with his stone hand. "Down! Bad dog!" He yelled. Mary sighed internally. She scanned the room for any other enemies, and, not finding any, slipped a knife out of her belt and threw it at the monster.

That startled it enough to get off of Hellboy, giving him the chance to pull his revolver out of his coat and fire a round into the monster. It crumpled into dust. "Eugh. Dumb thing." He said. Hellboy looked up to the balcony and saw Mary. He raised an eyebrow. 

"It's clear. I wouldn't have engaged your monster if there was one for me." The green girl said as she lept gracefully down. Hellboy shrugged. "Well," he holstered his gun. "I guess we should let the rest in."

A/N: Merry Christmas! Sorry it took so long. But I got both movies for Christmas, so it should be better from now on.


End file.
